The Loser Dems

Mike Whitney — The Unz Review Jan 31, 2018

The Democrats don’t seem to understand that the Russia investigation has made Trump stronger, not weaker. They don’t see that their evidence-free probe has strengthened Trump’s base and convinced his supporters that their leader is being unfairly attacked. (According to a January Quinnipiac survey, a full eighty-three percent of Republicans believe the current investigation is “a witch hunt”. The data suggests that Russia-gate has rallied Trump’s backers to his defense.) Dems don’t grasp that, in the last 12 months, Trump has pushed through a massive tax bill followed by immigration reform that has broadened his support and silenced his GOP critics. When Trump took office, McConnell, Ryan and Graham were all on opposite sides of the political divide. Now, Trump, has them eating out of his hand. He took a fractious, splintered party and forced them to fall in line. Trump has succeeded in unifying his base while the collusion fiasco has had no noticeable impact at all. None.

As for the Dems, well, the Dems still refuse to pay attention to their own polling data that says that rank-and-file members want less emphasis on Russia and more emphasis on jobs, college tuition, health care, and entitlements. The tone-deaf Dems completely ignore that message choosing instead to pursue a counterproductive probe that has yet to produce a scintilla of hard evidence and that has helped to underscore the fact that the Dems have no platform, no vision for the future, and no solutions for the problems facing ordinary working class people.

Let me be completely honest: I don’t give a flying fig about Russia, Russia hacking, Russia meddling, Russia collusion or any other screwball thing related to Russia. What I do care about is what’s going on in this country. I do care that the man who ran on a campaign of “non-intervention” is currently building military bases in East Syria, stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, supporting counterinsurgency operations across Africa, facing off with Turkey, providing bombs for the ongoing genocide in Yemen, threatening North Korea with total annihilation, and pledging to build a new regime of “usable” nuclear weapons. That’s what worries me, not Russia. But what worries me even more is that, just when we need a strong, highly-principled, credible opposition party to fight the good fight for wages, the environment, social services, education, infrastructure, civil liberties, and peace– the Democrats have turned into jello, a wobbly, gelatinous mass of ingratiating losers. What’s that all about?

The Dems are a party without a leader and without a message. They keep carping about Russia and Trump because they have no convictions, no beliefs, and no fire in the belly. It’s a party of empty suits and phony flannel-mouth politicos. The only thing they’re good at is losing, which is an art they appear to have perfected. The problem is, that the rest of us are sick of the party’s sad-sack song-and-dance, sick of the excuses, sick of the buck-passing, and sick of losing. We want candidates who actually stand for something, who actually believe in something, and who’ll actually fight for something.

Two weeks ago, the Dems shut down the government to see if they could force Trump into bending on the DACA issue. In less than 72 hours, they checked the polls, ran up the white flag, and caved in. I cannot remember a more flagrant display of political cowardice in my lifetime. Personally, I’d rather be on the side of someone who believes in something (even if he’s wrong!), than on the side of someone who believes in nothing at all. Democrat leaders believe in nothing, which is why they are not worthy of our support. Here’s how the World Socialist Web Site summed up the DACA cave in:

“The US Senate and House of Representatives voted Monday to approve a short-term budget resolution, putting an end to the partial shutdown of the federal government that began midnight Friday night. The deal leaves 800,000 DACA recipients without protection in what amounts to a total capitulation by Democrats to Trump and the Republicans…..

In the annals of cowardly capitulations, there are few spectacles that can match Monday’s collapse by the Democratic Party, which abandoned its blockade against the budget resolution less than 72 hours after it began. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced the decision in a brief, nearly blubbering speech on the Senate floor, which combined phony invective directed against Trump with a complete surrender to the bigot-in-chief in the White House….

The surrender was not Schumer’s individual decision, but the action of the entire Democratic caucus, which had no stomach for any serious fight…..” (“Federal shutdown ends as Democrats cave into Trump”, World Socialist Web Site)

No stomach. No guts. No spine. Admit it: The entire Democratic party leadership isn’t worth the powder to blow it to hell. It would be better for everyone if someone just put them out of their misery.

The Dems think the midterms are going to be a landslide-blowout. But don’t count on it. It’s going to take more than Russia-gate and a few glitzy photos with ME TOO celebrity-victims to get disillusioned liberals back to the polls. It’s going to take a “message”, a vision, a progressive way out of the dark, Trumpian fog we’re all stuck in. Unfortunately, the Dems have no such vision, and they’re too busy chasing fictitious Russian trolls on FaceBook to give it a second thought.

Look: I worked in the Democratic party at the local level. I know that the people at the grassroots level are sincere, principled people that are truly committed to making the country a better place for everyone. I know that! But there comes a time when you have to accept the reality the party’s leaders believe in nothing, that they are joined at the hip with arms dealers, the neocons, the Intel agencies, Wall Street and the rest of the vermin who control this country.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s the truth.

It’s time to pull up our big boy pants and face the facts: The Democratic party is NOT a suitable vehicle for the progressive agenda. It just isn’t. We need to cut our losses and move on.